A new Member of the Family

[Plantaholic]

Love her name Daisy.

[Oma]

Would Eve hurt her Daisy or is she just excited ?

Storm goes mad for next doors cats but wants to play with them , The girl next door to DD got a kitten last year and Storm was desperate to see it so DD put his harness on and they let him sniff the kitten then he just licked it till it was soaking he wanted to mother it,
I think its because they have cats of their own though so he wont chase them to hurt them , but cats don't know that do they and you don't want to take a chance just in case
Poor Eva Poor Scully

[Daisy]

Plant - my DIL1 is a big fan of the X Files - hence Scully! She's such a cute little thing - Scully I mean, not DIL, although she's lovely as well.

Oma - I don't think Eva would know what to do if she did actually catch or corner Scully, but Scully took a long time to trust Bailey (she was there first!) so she's not going to hang around to see if Eva is friendly or not. Eva occasionally surprises pigeons in the garden and she just stands there looking at them and looks very relieved when we call her off! The phrase 'big girl's blouse' comes to mind.

She's never tried to chase a squirrel or rabbit in the Forest, and she won't eat either - we've offered them and she licks them and pulls a face like she's sucking lemons.

It makes such a difference when a dog actually lives with cats.

[Daisy]

They always say dog training isn't an overnight process, it's for the duration, and we're certainly finding that with Eva.

We took her to the paddock today - it's the only place we can safely let her off lead as her recall goes out of the window if there's something better to attract her attention.

She had a really good run round - she shoots off like a greyhound - but she'd been really good keeping an eye on where we were and regularly coming back to us. So we decided to give her her favourite thing - a rubber squeaky ball. She was overjoyed, but was definitely not going to share it with us. She's not interested in returning it so you can throw it again for her.

She'd start to come towards us then run off - teasing us to chase her! Eventually we were ready to go home and she still wouldn't come so we left her there. Picked up our things and got into the car. She sat halfway down the field watching us in between rolling over on the ball. After about 5 minutes she sat up, looking a bit worried. Another 5 minutes or so and she came running to the gate, so I got out of the car to put her in the back. She ran off back down the paddock. We waited and waited and the cheeky monkey just lay down still playing with the ball.

In the end I walked round the outside of the paddock. She came and followed me on her side of the fence/hedge. About half way round she dropped the ball and followed me back to the gate, where OH was waiting for her. She let him put her lead on and take her to the car. I went and got the ball.

We probably just need more practice, and for me and OH to be more entertaining to coax her back to us!

[Clover]

Little tinker,😀I bet she knew exactly what she was doing . I expect you tried enticing her with treats as obviously you and OH we’re not interesting enough😀

[Plantaholic]

No squeaky toy for her next time?

[Daisy]

Clover - it's awful when your dog finds you too boring! Especially when you're trumped by a squeaky ball with a silly face!

Plant - we try this exercise every so often, when she's relatively calm. I think we may have to try it on a long lead next time and see if that helps.

[Gemini]

Oh my goodness Daisy. It sounds like enticing a mischievous toddler back to the car

Do you watch Dogs Behaving (very) Badly on Channel 5? Even to none dog owners it is fascinating. I spend half my time saying 'For goodness sake put it in the garage so you can entertain visitor, speak on the phone, or whatever normal function some of these dogs are preventing the owners from doing.
That Graham is amazing!

[Daisy]

Gem - I haven't watched Dogs Behaving Badly but I have just watched the first episode of Cat and Dog Wars (I think it's called) which was really interesting, with a dog behaviourist and a cat expert. It's very interesting and they both only use kind and gentle methods to bring peace to the household.

[Plantaholic]

I enjoy watching Dogs Behaving Badly.

[Daisy]

I can see I'll have to join you Plant and Gem! I'm a bit worried that the team might end up on our doorstep, though.

[Daisy]

Finally, today, dog training classes started. Our class is Wednesday afternoons (our choice) and at the moment there are only 3 doggies - more will come later.

Eva was delighted to see Pam, our trainer, and she certainly hadn't forgotten her. It must have felt like the first day with a new class for Pam - both humans and dogs were a bit rusty on some of the activities. I was pleased that Eva managed to walk round the room past the other dogs off lead. We were all amused though by the 3 dogs' reaction to two stuffed dogs put down to help form a circle. One was a very realistic Westie and Eva gave it her Paddington Hard Stare! The other dog looked more toy-like but one of the other dogs didn't believe it and barked at it a bit and kept a close eye on it then wanted to say hello, doggy-style, to the toy's rear end.

It was good to get back to working with Eva and she did quite well, but it was incredibly hot in the hall so we finished a bit early - by then all 3 dogs were lying down panting!

Eva is fast asleep - hasn't even asked for her dinner yet.

[Gemini]

Bless her! Well done Eva on your first day back at school

I like the Hard Stare at the toy dog

[Oma]

Been a hard day for her Daisy , Having to Hard stare another dog down even a stuffed one is a serious Job

[Plantaholic]

Yes, Rey tireing for Eva, first day back at school.